Does anyone know what the CRTC actually does?
The only thing I know is that they are responsible for Can-con.
The reason I ask is that ,as someone else pointed out, Corus owns CFNY,Mix, Mojo, Q etc
and to me this kind of monopoly has a lot do with why radio,not just in Toronto, is in the sad state that it is.

D'oh, I mistakenly posted in another section as well. Hey Scott an edit function sure would be handy on the forums!

The CRTC is the government regulator trying to ensure diversity on Canadian airwaves. The government first started regulating radio way back in 1932 (based on the 1928-29 Aird Commission Report). Regulation was born to prevent the "Americanization" of Canadian radio. Oddly enough, Corus has hired John Hayes, an American who worked for Clear Channel. Clear Channel is widely regarded by most radio experts as the poster child for everything that is wrong (bad/evil) with US radio. Dirty tricks, voice tracking, ownership of multiple stations per market, resurrecting Payola and bullying employees and suppliers alike. The CRTC and its predecessors may try as they like to protect us from Amercian radio... but Canada's largest radio group just hires an American and bypasses the safety net.

A little note about Mr. Hayes... in the 80s he signed Howard Stern to a new contract and a hefty raise... then fired him. It cost his company a lot of money, because they still had to honour the contract, and Howard went on to become #1 on a competitor's station. When Mr. Hayes moved to Corus he dropped the Howard Stern Show from Q107... just after they'd signed a contract to carry the show for another couple of years. The result? They still had to pay, a lot of $$$ for something they weren't going to use. It would seem this man doesn't learn from his mistakes. Furthermore... one of the first statements he made was that he didn't care about the "Art" of programming, he was concerned with the bottom line (shareholders). That's the kind of visionary that is at the top of the Corus food chain. Don't blame the CRTC... blame the beancounting CEOs who have no idea what makes radio work. Yes the CRTC can make a programmer's job more difficult, but it's the pinheads at the top that are to blame. They've lost their passion, their love of the music and communicating relevant information to the listener... radio's stopped being a "companion unobtrusive" and is more concerned with the profits of the studio walls.

CRTC is governmental body that has outlived its purpose and provides no value. Their major preoccupation now is censorship of television and radio. They censor things they don't like usually based on complaints by people who, rather than switching off the station they don't like or program they find offensive, decide that no one should be allowed to watch it or hear it. The CRTC also puts in place unnecessary rules when giving out licenses hence limiting and controlling our airwaves. It's very tough to get a license these days if you don't meet specific criteria. The CRTC should be abolished.

Thanks for the info, I wasn't trying to blame the CRTC, unless of course they could have prevented the changes at CFNY over the last decade. I was just wondering whether they also act as a watchdog to prevent monopolys from forming. Clearly if they're mandate is still to prevent the "americanization" of canadian radio they have failed.

I wouldn't say the CRTC has failed to prevent Americanization. One of their functions is to prevent foreign majority ownership. Americans (or any other foreigners) can't have majority controlling interests in a Canadian TV or radio station.

There's that... there's also the mandate to play Canadian music, although I personally question if this helps the Canadian music industry at all. Several artists like Brian Adams live and work down in the States. The money they make from Cancon airplay doesn't really get fed back into the Canadian system. As you can see, the CRTC's impact is mixed at best.

As far as cross-ownership in one city is concerned, a company is allowed to own two AM and two FM stations in a single market (also a CRTC regulation). Corus owns Edge 102, Q107 and Mojo, for instance. Again, does one corporation owning a huge cluster make for good radio? It's up for debate.

Probably quite often, there's a somewhat vice-versa discord between the play-it-safe YesMan senior management of a single division (or radio station) and true executive leadership.
That's another problem of allowing large cross-ownership conglomerations - in any industry.

...that threaten to pull licenses of stations that broadcast non-pc content (even though daytime talk tv can male-bash all day). Deny broadcast licenses to alternative commercial stations, endorse a failing DAB radio system, when the US has gone HD (I guess we need to prove we're different?!?). Oh yeah, and cost us a lot of tax $$$ to subsidize US corporations with its CANCON (think about it, you'll see what I mean)